here's an event data recorder, or EDR, in many cars -- what is commonly called a "black box." It tracks your car's movements and the actions you take as a driver, and now there are federal guidelines that standardize the information being collected.There is much debate over this information and when and how it can be used.EDRs have been in cars for a couple of decades and were placed there by automakers as a way for them to access information about the car's movements and driver behavior to help determine if a vehicle malfunctioned or the driver was in error in the event of a lawsuit.Today, most passenger cars and light-duty pickups have event data recorders. They are not required equipment in cars, but they may be for the 2015 model year if pending legislation passVisit Bank rate for full article

Sure hope that they put them in every car. While it won't prevent accidents, it may give a lot of good data that will lead to safer designs or a change as yet unseen that will make more accidents avoidable or possibly even modify driver behavior.

What they don't say is that the EDR (Event Data Recorder, aka "black box") can hold a maximum of 5 seconds of data. It is activated during a crash by the same type of sensor as activates the air bag, and it only tracks information about the crash itself, no audio, no personal data, no location or tracking data. As the article says, there are 15 items tracked, including the car's speed, how far the accelerator was depressed, the engine's RPMs, whether the brakes had been engaged, and how long it took the airbag to deploy. The purpose is to improve safety of vehicles by learning more about what has happened in a real-world accident. Or, as NHTSA Administrator David Strickland says: "EDRs provide critical safety information that might not otherwise be available to NHTSA to evaluate what happened during a crash — and what future steps could be taken to save lives and prevent injuries. A broader EDR requirement would ensure the agency has the safety-related information it needs to determine what factors may contribute to crashes across all vehicle manufacturers." It's already in most vehicles, installed with the airbag. If your car has an airbag, it probably already has an EDR.

Even if the insurance company were to be allowed to read the EDR, it's wouldn't tell them anything except what happened at the time of the accident.

The only way the information is on your side is it takes a freeze frame when that nasty check engine light comes on. This lets a technician duplicate the conditions for setting the computer error. We could care how fast or heavy your foot was other than the problem occurs when sitting still or at 60mph

You people who agree with this can have the black boxes. "Give an inch, take a mile" applies to the government.There will be more and more intrusion into your personal travel, destinations, how long you were there, whether you crossed state lines,did you visit family?, a gun store?,a known drug den?, a bar you frequent?, Does that subject you to a "visit" by the local police?I could go on, but at what point would it have gone too far..in your opinion?

People always raise a fuss if the government starts to look too closely at our private affairs, but we fail to realize that corporations are in the back door already - and insurance companies are just one example. For instance, they tell repair shops not to let customers watch their cars being worked on, employers to let perfectly good employees go because they spent a night in jail for an offense unrelated to their work, all just because the "risk" increases. No room for our own judgement. They even decide your rates on the basis of your credit rating - something they shouldn't even get to see because insurance is prepaid, not on credit. We need to apply the Fourth Amendment not only to the government, but to these nosy companies as well.

Mr Death if you have a cell phone that uses iPhone, Android, Windows or anything other than the old Nokia Meego you have a spy in your truck. It is your cell phone. It broadcasts your location using GPS reception and using that some one can go to your cell carrier and know where your cell phone and most likely you are 24 hours a day and if you are driving how fast and what road you are on.

I would like one that could be read by me.If my son had one 4 years ago he would not have had such a 4 year fight with the insurance company of the creep who crossed the line and hit him and took off! The police backed my son but that did not speed up the insurance company. Finally they had to pay!

Unfortunately, EDRs are another example of how our privacy is being eroded, bit by bit. The government now monitors ALL of our emails and cell phone calls and eventually they will use the EDRs to track every citizens movement around the country, using preventing terrorism as their excuse to continue to violate our privacy rights. Soon you will see your insurance company using the EDRs to raise your rates if you drive too fast or drive irresponsibly (by their measurement). We are now on the slippery slope sliding down in to a Big Brother government and we seem to be helpless to prevent it!

Elections have consequences.Don't be "sold" by someone's likeability or whether they are "cool". That person has a record that must be critically analyzed as well as, and perhaps more importantly, a party platform that that candidate represents. Analyze both very critically before casting a vote and perhaps unknowingly decreasing your freedom without even knowing it.

Research Alexander Tytler and what is attributed to him, "the Tytler Cycle" which is also known as democracy's "fatal sequence". If you weren't taught this in school it's a shame but check out where you would place the U.S. in Tytler's fatal sequence. Frightening really.